Considering Starlink - Anyone here have it?

[Gulfsailor]

We are planning some extended cruising this winter and are considering adding Starlink for work (emails and voip calls).

Does anyone here have it and can you share your experience as far as installation, cost, etc.

Thanks in advance.

[Ted Pounds]

My son in law and my brother each have the land based version of Starlink and both swear by the service.  👍👍

[Carbon]

I bought one and put it on the boat when the Mini became available to new customers. We have terrible cell service at the marina, and the WiFi is bad. I was just waiting for the Starlink Mini and jumped.

It's been great, no complaints. It's very reliable and fast. I generally get 150 MB down, which is plenty for Zoom calls and all the "office" stuff I do when playing hooky on the boat. The only thing that's knocked it offline is VERY heavy rain, it's only happened once.   

Having said that, the data plans may be problematic for cruising. My boat is essentially stationary. It's on an inland lake (Stockton Mo) so the furthest I can be from my slip is about 12 miles. I'm on the basic plan which is $50 a month for 50 GB. I seem to generally run over and use about 100 GB. The extra is smooth so 100 GB costs $100 a month. I'm fine with that.

I know that a lot of cruisers are upset that Starlink has changed the plans and is charging more for mobile users who don't return "home" every 90 days or so. A quick search on YouTube will find a bunch of unhappy customers. Here is a link to a YouTube channel that is not happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4KYxh5gK6k

As far as the hardware and the service goes it's great. And the basic cheap plan works for us. I'd only caution that you look into the price of the plans and make sure it fits your budget.
   

[Brazen Article]

Mine has been in continual use for over a year now from the bottom the Keys to the top of the Chesapeake. It works well 99% of the time, once in a while I've had to reboot it when it lost signal due to Starlink network errors.

I have the second generation Starlink, a rectangle with motors in the base on a short pole. On the boat it aims almost straight up so I disabled the motors and changed the power supply to run off 12 volts. Those mods and eliminating the Starlink 120 volt router save a lot of power.
The regional roam plan started at $150 a month, then Elon decided to raise it to $165. As long as you are not moving over 10 mph it works whether motoring, sailing or stationary. Regional Roam covers the Bahamas now but everything is subject to the whim of Starlink, since it is a month to month deal they can change anytime.
There is a boat plan for $165 too, my understanding is if you travel out of a region on open ocean you can pay by the GB. I haven't heard of that being an issue between Florida and the Bahamas, on the map Starlink used last year it was all the same region including the water between.
I wish it cost less but it is amazing technology and for now the only game in town.

Brazen Article
2001 Catalina 36 MKII
North East, MD

[Gulfsailor]

Thank you for the info. I've sailed worldwide with my iridium satphone but think Starlink will be a better option.

[Carbon]

Another point I thought was worth making is about the power draw from the Mini. It's about 20 watts when it's just running normally. I understand it can increase to 60 Watts when it's trying to melt snow. But that's not something I need to worry about.

The mini has the router and WiFi access point built in. So 20 Watts is the entire load.